GS Retail Co., Ltd.'s (KRX:007070) market cap surged ₩74b last week, public companies who have a lot riding on the company were rewarded

Key Insights

• Significant control over GS Retail by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• 56% of the business is held by the top 2 shareholders
• Institutional ownership in GS Retail is 15%

If you want to know who really controls GS Retail Co., Ltd. (KRX:007070), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that public companies own the lion's share in the company with 47% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Clearly, public companies benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by ₩74b last week.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of GS Retail.

See our latest analysis for GS Retail

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About GS Retail?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

We can see that GS Retail does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at GS Retail's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in GS Retail. GS Holdings Corp. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 47% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.9% and 1.6% of the stock.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 2 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 56% stake.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of GS Retail

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of GS Retail Co., Ltd.. It seems the board members have no more than ₩71m worth of shares in the ₩1.3t company. Many tend to prefer to see a board with bigger shareholdings. A good next step might be to take a look at this free summary of insider buying and selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 38% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over GS Retail. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 47% of the GS Retail shares on issue. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for GS Retail you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.